Whether transporting goods or materials from a supplier to a manufacturer, warehouse to a retailer, retailer or warehouse to a residence or business, the transportation of goods and materials constitutes a not insignificant portion of the cost of the goods and materials. One of the contributing factors to the cost of transporting goods and materials is paying employees to drive or pilot transportation vehicles. Additionally, transporting goods and materials, whether by land, air, or sea, increase traffic on the roads, airways, and waterways, respectively. Utilizing autonomous vehicles to transport goods and services can help alleviate these problems. However, many difficulties must be overcome before autonomous vehicles can be used to transport goods and materials.
Elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention. Certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. The terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions by persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above except where different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.